Babel’s Tower Posted by Serena on Jun 11, 2013
Last weekend Geoff and I went to Zurigo, Svizzera (Zurich, in Switzerland), for my cousin Francesca’s 50th birthday. Francesca, whose parents are both Italian, grew up in Switzerland, where her father used to work for the Italian Embassy in Zurich. She married a Swiss lawyer, and has two teenage children. Bilingual in Italian and Swiss…
Focaccia al Mais Posted by Serena on Jun 7, 2013
Just outside Pontremoli there’s a bakery that makes a delicious focaccia al mais (cornmeal focaccia). As much as I’d like to buy it fresh every day, it’s not practical for me and Geoff, because we live in a tiny little village 10 km north of Pontremoli, in the opposite direction from the bakery. So, as…
Antonio Ligabue Posted by Serena on Jun 5, 2013
Last Sunday we went to Lucca to see an exhibition of work by the most famous Italian naive painter, Antonio Ligabue. I’d been wanting to see his work since, as a child in long ago 1977, I saw a telefilm about this very particular artist. I’m going to continue in Italian. I hope you manage…
Typing in Italian on an English Computer/Keyboard Posted by Geoff on May 31, 2013
I’m sure lots of you have a computer with an operating system (such as Windows) which has English set as the default language. You’ve probably also got an English tastiera (keyboard). This can sometimes make writing and spell checking in Italian a bit awkward. Well here’s the simplest method that I’ve found for easily switching…
Shovelling Muck in Tuscany! Posted by Serena on May 27, 2013
La settimana scorsa il tempo ci ha dato un paio di giorni di tregua (questa è la più piovosa e fredda primavera degli ultimi trent’anni!) e così siamo riusciti a fare un po’ di lavoro sul nostro povero orto. Prima di tutto abbiamo vangato, diserbato e ridisegnato un paio di aiuole. Poi siamo andati a…
NUTS! Posted by Geoff on May 24, 2013
Today, our guest blogger Ambra Sancin writes abut idiomatic Italian expressions that use the word nuts. In case you missed Ambra’s previous blog ‘The Language of Coffee’, here’s a quick bio: Ambra is a Sydney-based arts project manager in the cultural/not-for-profit sector and specialise in communications, marketing and producing public programs for festivals and government…
Verdura Nostrana Posted by Serena on May 21, 2013
Carrying on from Geoff’s post about fruit names in Italian, today I’m going to look at the names of the most popular vegetables. Us Italians prefer our verdure (vegetables) to be nostrane (local) and generally try to avoid buying fruit and vegetables imported from foreign countries. A couple days ago I was at the supermarket…